Our commitment to members of the general public

The Commission for Aviation Regulation is committed to delivering the highest possible quality of service to members of the general public. This Charter sets out the standards of service you can expect to receive from the Commission for Aviation Regulation.

Contacting us by telephone

We are available to answer calls between the hours of 09.00-13.00 and 14.00-17.00, Monday- Friday. The Commission can be contacted on our LoCall number 1890 787 787 (for Customers calling from landlines in the Republic of Ireland) or on our direct line +353-(0)1-6611700 (all customers).

If you contact us by telephone, we will:

Identify ourselves on answering and provide our telephone number/e-mail where this is useful for the caller.

Make every effort to answer your query immediately. However, if we cannot do this, we will take your details and get back to you with an answer as soon as possible.

If we need to transfer your call to a colleague, we will explain why. We will provide you with that person’s name, area of work and will ensure your call is transferred properly.

Respond promptly to all voicemail messages, where possible within one working day of the message being left.

We will only divert calls to voicemail facilities where the relevant person is engaged on another call or unavailable/absent.

Contacting us by written correspondence (including fax and e-mails)

If you write to us:

We will acknowledge all written correspondence within 3 working days.

In general, with the exception of the categories cited in the paragraph below, we will make every effort to provide a full reply within 15 working days. If we cannot respond to you within that timeframe, we will write to you to explain why and will inform you when you can expect a full reply. We will ensure that all our written replies include a contact name, telephone number, fax number and e-mail address.

We will endeavour to write to you in simple and clear language, explaining any technical terms if they are necessary to use.

In respect of certain large scale consumer protection events (e.g. radar malfunction at an airport, prolonged closure of airspace or a significant Travel Trade collapse or multiple collapses) the Commission can experience significant volumes of both written and oral communications from the public. While the Commission will generally strive to achieve the standards set out in this document, such consumer protection events will require the Commission to treat correspondence/communications relating to such events separately to the general standards as set out here. In that scenario, longer timeframes for replying to communications will apply and in those situations the Commission will, if appropriate, use its best endeavours to communicate the expected response timeframes in a transparent and timely manner, usually through the Commission's websites: www.aviationreg.ie and www.flightrights.ie.

Visiting our Offices

The Commission’s offices are located at 3rd Floor, Alexandra House, Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2 and are open Monday to Friday between the hours of 09.00-13.00 and 14.00-17.00. If you visit us in person, we will:

Make you feel welcome and will be polite and courteous in our dealings with you.

Respect your privacy and make sure you are treated equally and with respect.

Keep our public offices safe and clean and make sure they meet relevant health and safety standards.

Be available to meet with you punctually at the scheduled time where appointments have been made.

Endeavour to provide appropriate facilities for meetings.

Our offices are accessible to people with disabilities. Should you have any concerns or special needs, please let us know how we may help.

Aim to ensure that all information, application forms and documents are easy to understand, including simplifying rules, regulations and procedures where relevant.

Ensure that information is available at all points of contact, and will endeavour to make it available in formats which meet the requirements of customers with special needs.

Our Websites

The Commission has two websites: www.aviationreg.ie and www.flightrights.ie. The first website provides information on all of the activities of the Commission whilst the second website focuses on our Consumer Protection role. Our aim is that both websites will:

Be up-to-date, user-friendly and a useful communications tool for all our customers.

Be WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) compliant and accessible to all our customers, including those with visual disabilities.

Séirbhís Trí Ghaeilge (Service through Irish)

We will make every effort to accommodate customers who wish to conduct their business through Irish.

Documents such as the Annual Report and Financial Statements are available in Irish.

We will continue to meet our commitments under the Official Languages Act, 2003.

Help us to help you

Help us to provide you with a high quality service by:

Providing full and accurate information when you contact us.

Quoting reference numbers, where provided, in all communication with us.

Completing all forms fully and accurately, signing them and ensuring that all supporting documents are included with applications.

Make an appointment in advance if you wish to request to meet a specific member of the staff of the Commission.

Letting us know in advance if you are unable to keep an appointment.

Treating our staff in the way that you would like to be treated yourself.

We value your Feedback

We welcome any comments/suggestions regarding the service you receive. If you would like to forward a suggestion on how we could improve our service, please contact our Customer Service Officer, Deborah Maguire, who can be contacted on Tel: 1890 787 787 or by e-mail to info@aviationreg.ie.

Customer’s can also write to Deborah Maguire at the following address:

Complaints Procedure

If you are unhappy about the way we have dealt with you, you have the right to make a complaint. We will maintain a transparent and easy to use system of dealing with formal complaints in relation to the quality of service provided. All complaints will be treated fairly and without bias.

If a customer has a complaint about the service we have provided, they should write to the Customer Service Officer. When a complaint is received, we will acknowledge within 3 working days and aim to issue a full reply within 15 working days. If we need to carry out further investigations, we will let the customer know.

If we make a mistake or fail to deliver a quality service, we will seek to rectify the situation as quickly as possible. We will also give an explanation and, where appropriate, an apology.

Making a complaint will not adversely affect how you will be treated by the Commission in the future.

Evaluation of our commitments

The Commission for Aviation Regulation seeks to continually improve our Customer Service. We will evaluate our performance against the standards outlined in this Charter annually. We intend to report on our performance in our Annual Report each year. If we identify areas of our service which need to be improved, we will take the necessary steps to ensure that this improvement is delivered as quickly as possible.